Ingredients for Greatness

So, here you are, you’re living your life, doing…whatever it is you do, and out of nowhere, a thought sparks in your head. It’s incredibly small, but profound. It shoots through your mind so fast yet, it’s bright, phenomenally bright; the mind can’t ignore it. You focus, but you’ve got to be careful! It’s delicate! Too much, and it will collapse; gone, not even a whisper will remain of what it was. You see, that spark burned most of its energy getting your attention. It’s weak now; but you can’t simply ignore it either. Without some focus, some fuel, it will burn right out! If that happens, only teeny tiny embers survive… shadows of the spark it was seconds earlier. It’s a delicate balance, in the beginning… thinking a thought; nurturing it. Once it catches and evolves into an idea, it has the potential to branch out into limitless possibilities.

Photo Credit: Z Young

Now, do you know what that idea needs? That’s easy….fertilizer. What’s fertilizer? Failures. I know, I know, you’re thinking, “What? Failures?” Truth is, it’s got to have it! Lots of it!! What am I talking about?

You ever written a first draft? Of course you have. What is it more affectionately known as? That’s right! Shit! And what is the best, original fertilizer? You guessed it…shit. Your first draft is the end result of a fast and furious passionate orgy between your creativity, your idea, a pen, and a piece of paper. It’s ugly, it’s raw, it’s all over the place, and it’s ‘your baby.’ What did you expect? Have you looked at yourself lately? Staying up all night, drinking coffee, Red Bull’s, barely eating, not sleeping, certainly not bathing. I mean, come on! You had a story to write!! Nothing else mattered but getting it done!!

Photo Credit: Aleksandr Makaranka

So what do you and your ugly ass baby do now? Well, I for one hate sounding like I have no idea about something I’m writing. There is no ‘fake it till you make it’ with authenticity. Not really. That’s why it’s always better to write what you know.  That being said, if what you created is burning a hole through you to get out, and you want it to be a genuine, authentic masterpiece… it’s research time.

If you’re a plumber by trade but you’re writing murder mystery and your protagonist is a detective, you better know police investigation procedure. If you’re a nurse writing a legal thriller, you better get familiar with the law.

Learn everything you can about whatever it is you need to know. If you don’t know, ask questions, better yet, have conversations with those who do. Become a knowledgeable source; you don’t have to become a subject matter expert, but you do have to put in the effort. Now, if you’re writing fantasy, you can do whatever you like. It’s your world and you’re it’s benevolent creator. If it’s a short story, read short stories; a poem, read poetry; fiction, read fiction. Know your subject and your voice. Know them inside and out.

Now you know what you want to write, you know the subject matter, and you know the voice in which to say it… It’s second draft time!!! Yay! Editing, re-writes, dialogue overhauls, character development, filling in those grey areas where you didn’t know what you didn’t know, but now you do know. Write the fuck out of it!

Now! Now you’ve got what? A second draft. You’re so proud of it. Guess what you really have? A polished turd! That’s right! More fertilizer. Now it’s step three. Letting your baby walk on it’s on. Let it walk to a friend, a peer, an editor. Let them be brutal! I mean brutal! Rip it apart! It’s better to happen now, when you can fix it.

Shore up those weak dialogues, fill those plot holes, cut out the unnecessary word clutter, the repeating catch word that you used 25 times on one page. Do it now before the world reads it and does it for you. (Hey, they’re going to anyway…unless you’re Koontz or Childs…then they’ll just give you another book deal…what? What did I say? Did I say that out loud?)

Draft three…the final (hopefully) rewrite. Plot holes are filled! Dialogue is solid! Literary vomit cleaned out and sanitized! There’ll be no three pages wasted describing a fucking lamp that has no function in the story for you! No shotgun materializing out of no fucking where in your protagonist’s hand at the last second to save the day! No sir! No ma’am! You’re shit is solid! Squared away! And superb!

That’s right, it’s still fertilizer for an ever growing idea…that started from a fleeting spark in the middle of a conversation; or after a driver cut you off in traffic; seconds, days, months after you watched a loved one die before your eyes after battling cancer; before, during, or after the best sex of your life; or the worst. (If it was the worst, you may have been able to skip straight to final draft, you’re partner just did. What? Did I say that out loud, too?)

Happy writing!